[Sigia-l] Interface for Content Management Systems?

Tue Apr 12 19:35:55 EDT 2005

Finding a good interface will depend a lot on the features people use in
your content management system. We are currently evaluating the CMS
marketplace to find the best solution for QUT and have found that not all
CMSs were made equal. Top-tier products tend to have a lot of integration
and management features (eg complex workflow and record keeping) which are
normally only used by system or web administrators. If you have these, it's
probably best to create a separate interface for them so you don't clutter
the content contributor's interface with unnecessary options.

Typically however, in-house developments are focused on basic functions like
content creation and separation of content from design. For these features I
have found Macromedia's Contribute to be a very good product (although not
technically a CMS it has some features of one) and after implementing it in
a previous workplace had excellent user feedback. I have also worked with
Etomite (free, open source) and found it to have a good interface which
users (who were previously using Dreamweaver) picked up very quickly and
loved. Incidentally CMS research reports we have looked at (Gartner etc)
suggest that open source products typically provide a better solution than
in-house developments.

These are the features I have found content contributors value most:
- simple content creation interface that looks like a standard word
processor
- ability to browse around the site in a browser to find the page they want
then hit an 'edit page' button to go straight into edit mode
- if there is an approval or other workflow process emails notifications in
combination with a 'my tasks' area to make sure they haven't missed
something which is waiting for their input

[Since it's my first time posting on the list I'll break with etiquette and
include my signature :)]

Regards
Naomi Norman
____________________________________________

Manager, Web Information and Communication
Queensland University of Technology
Email  n.norman at qut.edu.au
Phone 07 3864 9308
Web   www.qut.edu.au
____________________________________________

<HTML posting weirdness snipped>
> I've been asked to look at re-designing an interface for a internally 
> developed content management. As part of my personal process, 
> I always like to do a competitive analysis or comparison of similar 
> products to get an understanding of potential approaches.  Has anyone 
> addressed a similar problem? Any suggestions on CMS interfaces that 
> work well (or not)? Any advice? 
>
>	
>	Thanks 
>	
>	Dave